Steps to Become a Healthcare Project Manager

Healthcare project managers need to possess an advanced level of educational proficiency to understand the healthcare norms and communicate across their team in simple terms. The healthcare project manager needs to handle high–end healthcare projects that provide patient care and also ensures their safety.

The healthcare industry is in demand and moving at a faster pace, so the healthcare managers are required to handle more projects in less time. They need to handle more than one project in an organization. They need to manage all the projects efficiently from the conception to completion stage and delivery the project with a successful outcome. So the role of a healthcare project manager is very critical and needs to perform their responsibilities with no gap for errors.

Skills Required For a Healthcare Project Manager

The healthcare project manager needs to stay focused and handle his team with the right attitude. The following are the important skills and qualities needed for a healthcare manager:

Interpersonal Skills – The healthcare project manager has to communicate with the heads of various departments so he needs to possess interpersonal skills to convey this message effectively.
Problem- Solving Skills – The healthcare project manager will face issues with regards to project management and also while dealing with stakeholders and external resources. For this, he needs to have excellent problem-solving skills and the foresight to plan for future problems and be ready with a contingency plan on time.
Leadership Skills – The healthcare project manager will lead the project team as well as make strategic decisions to deliver every piece of the project on time and with the highest quality. For this, he needs to delegate and prioritize the tasks correctly, set the right goals and objectives for all, give constructive feedback, and conduct performance review meetings. He must lead the team and handle the project resources including cost, project schedule, and also clients and their changes requests promptly.
Adaptability – Even if the project is planned well at times, there will be unforeseen issues that spike up at the last hour. The healthcare manager must be flexible to tackle these issues and provide solutions to overcome them.

Educational Requirements and Certifications

The healthcare managers need to hold a bachelor’s degree in any of the fields like public health administration, health management, registered nurse, and business administration.
Having a master’s degree in the healthcare domain is an added advantage and gets you shortlisted and selected among other candidates in the race of the project manager.
Who doesn’t value a certified professional? Holding a project management certification from a renowned project management institute is highly valued and gives you an advantage over all the prospects.
Some of the popular and top paying project management certifications are as follows: (Florentine)

Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®
Project Management Professional (PMP)®
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®
Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)®
Master Project Manager (MPM)®
Certified Project Manager (IAPM)
CompTIA Project+
Change Management Foundation and Practitioner
PRINCE2 Foundation/PRINCE2 Practitioner
Professional in Project Management (PPM)
Project Management in IT Security (PMITS)
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)

Salary Expected For a Healthcare Project Manager – The healthcare project manager’s salary depends upon many factors like his educational background, the healthcare domain he is serving, the scope of his role, the type of project he is handling, and the location of the project. The healthcare project manager’s remuneration varies based on several factors such as education, location, type of healthcare domain, and scope of the job role. According to comparably, the average salary of a healthcare project manager in the United States is $116,403 /year and in San Francisco, it’s $175,525 that is 51% higher than the overall U.S average offering. (2020).

Healthcare project management is a challenging role and with the proper training and experience, you can become a top-level healthcare project, manager.

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